Liquid dispensing apparatus



ware

Filed Dec. 16, 1965, Ser. No. 514,181 Claims. (Cl. 222-448) ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A liquid dispensing apparatus having a measuring chamberincluding an elongated filling tube with a variable orifice valve at itsinlet end and a foot valve at its discharge end. Pressure responsivemeans is connected to the valves to open the foot valve in response toincreased pressure within the chamber while the variable orifice valvemaintains uniform pressure on the pressure responsive means preventingchattering of the foot valve at both high and low fiow rates. Theapparatus also includes a suction creating check valve which assuresproper collapse of a flexible sleeve in the valve.

The present invention pertains to liquid dispensing apparatus and moreparticularly relates to a positive displacement filling apparatus forfilling a predetermined volume of liquid, such as milk, into acontainer.

Certain well known carton forming and filling apparatus require fillingapparatus which is capable of rapidly filling predetermined volumes ofliquid into ditferent sized cartons, such as: quart, pint, /3 quart, or/2 pint cartons. The liquid dispensing apparatus of the presentinvention is intended for use in such a prior art apparatus.

Although the above-referred-to prior art filling apparatus operatesquite satisfactorily at a rate of approximately 110 cartons per minute,its operation is not satisfactory when the filling rate is increased tobetween approximately 150 and 200 cartons per minute. When fillingcartons at these higher rates and when utilizing liquid pressure withina measuring chamber to selectively open and close the foot valve, it hasbeen discovered that an orifice of variable size must be insertedbetween the foot valve and the pressure sensitive element which controlsthe opening and closing of the valve. It has been found that the use ofan orifice of fixed size which is large enough to accommodate the higherrates of flow through the filling apparatus will not provide asufiicient back pressure within the apparatus to hold the foot valveopen during slower rates of flow thereby causing the foot valve tochatter at these slower flow rates. Thus, when using no orifice or whenusing an orifice large enough to accommodate the rapid fiow rates whichare necessary when filling large cartons at the rate of 150 to 200cartons per minute, the foot valve will chatter at the slower rates ofliquid flow through the measuring chamber. Such slow fiow rates occurwhen filling smaller cartons or when introducing the initial quantity ofliquid into larger cartons in a prefilling step to be describedhereinafter. If chattering of the foot valve is permitted air entrainedin the liquid or drawn into the liquid through the foot valve willresult in objectionable foaming of the liquid.

If a fixed orifice is used that is small enough to assure proper openingof the foot valve at the slower rates of liquid flow through themeasuring chamber, as when filling smaller cartons or when performingthe prefilling step on larger cartons, it has been found that theorifice is not sufliciently large to accommodate the higher rates offlow resulting in such an excessive build up of pressure within themeasuring chamber as to render the filling apparatus inoperative at thehigher liquid flow rates through the chamber.

ited States Patent It has been discovered that the higher rates alsocause inwardly opening foot valves to draw a bubble of air into thefilling apparatus during the initial opening of the foot valve with theresult that considerable foaming occurs during the high speed fillingoperation.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide animproved liquid filling or dispensing apparatus.

Another object is to provide a liquid dispensing apparatus having avariable orifice valve therein for first establishing a foot valveopening back pressure and for thereafter permitting liquid to fiowtherepast at velocities sufi'icient to fill either large or smallcartons while maintaining very accurate regulation of the quantity ofliquid delivered.

Another object is to provide a vacuum creating system wherein a flexiblesleeve is held from collapsing into a volumetric measuring chamberduring the filling operation, thereby maintaining accurate regulation ofthe quantity of liquid being delivered to the container.

Another object is to provide a flexible sleeve which, when in theextended position, will release any air trapped therein during theprevious filling stroke thereby assuring that an exact measured quantityof liquid will be present in the measuring chamber each time a fillingstroke is initiated.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from the following description and the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical elevation taken through the liquid dispensingapparatus of the present invention, certain valve actuating elementsbeing diagrammatically i1- lustrated and other elements being shown invetrical central section.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged vertical central section of r the lower portionof the apparatus of FIGURE 1 with the inlet valve being open and thefoot valve being closed, certain parts being broken away.

FIGURE 3 is a section similar to FIGURE 2 but illustrating the footvalve in an open position and the inlet valve in a closed position, andwith the inlet valve moved downwardly an amount sufiicient to dischargea quantity of liquid into the carton sufiicient to cover the lower endof the filling tube, certain parts being broken away.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged vertical central section of an upper portion ofthe apparatus of FIGURE 1 illustrating the inlet valve in an openposition and a sleeve vacuumizing device with the sleeve being shown inits fully extended position.

FIGURE 5 is a section similar to FIGURE 4 but illustrating the sleeve inan intermediate position.

FIGURE 6 is a vertical central section of a turret upon which aplurality of filling valves of the present invention are mounted, onlytwo valves being illustrated therein.

Each of a plurality of liquid dispensing apparatus 10 (only two beingshown in FIG. 6) of the present invention is bolted to an outlet opening12 of a liquid supply tank 14 which is supported upon the upper end of aturret 15.

In general, the turret 15 comprises a stationary vertical column 16which rotatably supports the tank 14 and a stabilizing wheel 17 near itsupper end, and rotatably supports a sprocket 18 and a lower stabilizingwheel 19 near its lower end. A continuously driven conveyor 20 isprovided with evenly spaced carriers 21 thereon, each carrier beingadapted to support a carton C in alignment with an associated dispensingapparatus 10 as the carton and the dispensing apparatus 10 are movedaround the axis of the column 16, which axis defines the axis ofrotation of the turret 15. The sprocket 18 is connected in drivingengagement to the lower stabilizing wheel 19 by a drive post 22 and thelower stabilizing wheel 19 is connected to the upper stabilizing wheel17 and to the tank 14 by a plurality of evenly spaced verticallyextending inner guide rods 23 and a plurality of equally spacedvertically extending outer guide rods 24. As clearly shown on the rightside of FIGURE 6, each dispensing apparatus is provided with two camactuated arms 25 and 26 which are guided for vertical movement duringthe filling operation by One of the rods 23 and by one of the rods 24-.Ari upper non-rotatable cam 27 is rigidly secured to the stationarycolumn 16 and cooperates with the upper arm 25 to vertically reciprocatea first portion of each dispensing apparatus 11 and a lowernon-rotatable cam 28 is secured to the stationary column 16 andcooperates with the arm 26 to vertically reciprocate another portion ofthe dispensing apparatus 10. A large diameter foot valve latching camring 29 is mounted in fixed position around the turret outside the pathof movement of each dispensing apparatus 10 by one or more brackets 30and by a utility post 31, which brackets and post are rigidly secured tothe frame of the machine. The cam ring 29 is not a truly circular memberbut rather it includes a small diameter arcuate portion 29:: which holdsa foot valve of the apparatus 16 closed, and a large diameter portion2912 which permits opening of the foot valve during the fillingoperation.

It is to be understood that the specific details of the turret 15 formno part of the present invention. If a more detailed description of theturret and its actuating mechanism is desired, reference may be had tothe aforementioned Vadas et al. application. It is also to be understoodthat the dispensing apparatus 1% need not be limited to turret mountedoperation as above described, but may also be mounted in a fixedposition while cooperating to fill cartons which are intermittentlymoved therepast.

In general, each liquid dispensing apparatus ll (FIG. 1) comprises anupper tubular housing 66 having a flanged upper end 68 bolted to andcommunicating with the tank 14 through one of the openings 12. Agenerally tubular inlet valve housing 7% has its upper end 7iia disposedaround the lower end of the housing 66 and sealed thereto by a flexiblesleeve 74 which permits vertical movement of the inlet valve housing 70relative to the upper housing 66. The lower reduced diameter end 791) ofthe inlet valve housing 70 is provided with an inlet valve 76 which isalternately moved between an open and a closed position by a camoperated actuating device 78. The upper end 80a of a generally tubularliquid measuring housing Si) is slidably received around the lower end7% of the inlet valve housing 70 for vertical movement relative theretoand is sealed thereto by a flexible sleeve 82. The liquid measuringhousing Sit includes a reduced diameter filling tube 84 at its lowerend, which filling tube is inserted into a carton C to be filled and hasa foot valve 86 at its lower end. The liquid measuring housing 80defines a variable capacity, volumetric liquid measuring chamber 88which is at all times filled with liquid. A valve actuating device 96 isoperatively connected to the foot valve 86 and responds to an increaseof pressure Within the measuring chamber 38 to open the foot valve 86,the pressure increase in the chamber 88 being caused by decreasing thesize of the chamber 88 by movement of the inlet valve housing 70 and theliquid measuring housing 88 toward each other after the inlet valve 76has first been closed.

At the beginning of the cycle of operation, the components of the liquiddispensing apparatus are positioned as shown in FIGURE 1 with a carton Cto be filled being supported by a carrier 21 directly below the fillingtube 84. As illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 6, the inlet valve 76 is heldopen by a cam follower 92 of the valve actuat ing device 78 whichengages an arcuate lobe 94 on the lower track 96 of the annular cam 27which cam is concentric with the vertical axis of rotation of theturretsupported liquid supply tank 14,. At this time, a cam follower 100that is journalled on the arm holds the inlet valve housing 70 in itsuppermost position by riding along an upper arcuate track 103 of the cam27 that is parallel to the lower track 96. A cam follower 104 on the endof the arm 26 which arm is operatively connected to the liquid measuringhousing 80, rides along the upper surface of the annular cam 28 whichincludes adjustable portions (not shown) that may be vertically adjustedso as to control the vertical travel of the measuring housing. Thus,when it is desired to fill different size cartons with predeterminedquantities of liquid, both the adjustable portion of the cam and thevertically adjustable carton carrier 21 are raised or lowered to theirdesired vertical positions by means fully disclosed in the Vadas et al.application. In order to positively hold the foot valve 86 closed duringthe period when the inlet valve 76 is open, latching means such as theannular cam track 29 is positioned outwardly of the apparatus 10 andengages a portion of the valve actuating device 90 to positively holdthe foot valve closed at all times when the inlet valve 76 is open. Whenthe inlet valve is closed, the actuating device 9! enters the portion29b of the track 29 permitting the valve 86 to open. It will also beunderstood that when the inlet valve '76 is closed, atmospheric pressureacting on the actuating device 9% will be greater than the negativepressure within the measuring chamber 88 and will hold the foot valve 36closed until the housings 7i) and are moved toward each other to providea pressure within the measuring chamber 88 that is greater than thepressure outside of the chamber. It will be understood that the camtrack 29 maintains a position in horizontal alignment with the actuatingdevice 90.

Upon rotation of the liquid supply tank 1-4 and liquid dispensingapparatus 10 about the cams 27 and 28, the measuring housing 80 is firstlowered to draw liquid through the open inlet valve 7 6 into themeasuring chamber 88 of the liquid measuring housing 80, and to move thefilling tube 84 into the carton with its lower end disposed immediatelyadjacent the bottom closure of the carton. The inlet valve 76 is thenclosed in response to the cam follower 92 moving off the arcuate lobe 94of the cam 27. With the inlet valve closed and the actuating mechanismreleased, continued rotation of the dispensing apparatus 1*!) about thevertical turret axis causes the inlet valve housing 70 to graduallylower, thereby increasing the pressure in the measuring chamber 88 andcausing the foot valve 86 to open, permitting liquid to relativelyslowly enter the carton during a prefilling operation to a depthslightly above that of the lower end of the filling tube as indicated inFIGURE 3. The annular cam 28 then rapidly raises the measuring housing80 while the housing 78' is stationary, thereby reducing the volume ofthe chamber and causing the liquid to rapidly fill the carton.

After the carton has been filled with the desired quantity of liquid andthe lower end of the filling tube 84 is still in the liquid in thecarton, relative motion between the inlet housing 78 and the measuringhousing 80 ceases, thus again establishing the aforementioned negativepressure within the measuring chamber causing the foot valve 86 toclose. After the foot valve has closed, the cams 27 and 28 raise theinlet housing 70 and measuring housing 30 as a unit thereby withdrawingthe filling tube from the carton. Shortly after the foot valve has beenclosed by negative pressure within the measuring chamber 88, theactuating device 90 enters the small diameter arcuate portion 29a of thelatching ring 29 thereby latching the foot valve 86 closed until thecycle of operation is completed.

An important feature of the present invention which makes it possiblefor the liquid dispensing apparatus to operate at the higher ratesmentioned above, is the provision of a variable orifice valve 114 in theinlet end of the filling tube 84, which valve 114- cooperates with thefoot valve 86 which is designed to open downwardly and outwardly of thefilling tube so as to avoid drawing air into the tube. The variableorifice valve 114 and foot valve 86 cooperate to eliminate chattering ofthe foot valve during both the relatively slow preliminary fillingoperation and the small carton filling operation by assuring thatsufficient back pressure is retained in the measuring chamber 88 duringboth preliminary and final filling, and that the flow passages withinthe dispensing housing 80 are sufliciently open during both preliminaryand final filling to accommodate the rate of liquid flow therethroughwithout loss of accuracy as to the quantity of liquid being dischargedinto the cartons.

The variable orifice valve 114 comprises an orifice plate 116 (FIGS. 2and 3) which includes an annular flange 118 formed integrally with anannular dish 120 that is inclined downwardly toward a central circularorifice 122. The orifice plate 116 is press fitted into the upper end ofthe filling tube 84 and has the upper end of a foot valve actuating rod124 of the foot valve 86 extending therethrough. A pair of valve guidingspiders 126 are welded to the rod 124. Each spider includes threeequally spaced arms 128 projecting radially outward from the rod 124 andslidably engaging the inside surface of the filling tube 84 to maintainthe rod 124 concentric with the tube 84 during vertical movementthereof.

An annular valve head 130 is secured to the rod 124 and is disposed inclosed position within the orifice 122 when the foot valve 86 is in aclosed position. The valve head 130 includes an upper outwardly anddownwardly flared surface 132 and a lower downwardly and inwardly flaredsurface 134 which connect the outer periphery of the head 130 with therod 124 and assures a streamlined flow of liquid therepast. It has beenfound that a radial clearance of between 15-30 thousands of an inch isnecessary between the walls of the orifice 122 and the periphery of thevalve head 136 to assure that any abnormal buildup of pressure in theportion of the measuring chamber 88 above the orifice valve 114, due tothe very high operating speeds, will be transmitted into the portion ofthe measuring chamber 88 below the orifice valve 114 and the liquid willflow out of the foot valve 86 immediately before the foot valve isclosed rather than causing damage to the valve actuating device 90.

The foot valve 86 comprises the rod 124 and a valve head 136 secured tothe lower end of the rod. The valve head 136 is of a resilient materialsuch as rubber and comprises a beveled sealing surface 138 which seatsagainst a mating beveled surface 140 formed in the lower end of thefilling tube 84 when the orifice valve 114 and foot valve 86 are inclosed position. It will be noted that, when the rod 124 is moveddownwardly by pressure acting on the valve actuating device 90, theorifice valve 114 and foot valve 86 are both opened, and that thepressure of the fluid flowing past the valves tends to maintain thevalves in an open position.

As mentioned previously, the opening and closing of the foot valve 86and orifice valve 114 is controlled by the valve actuating device 90(FIGS. 2 and 3). The valve actuating device 90 comprises a centrallyapertured flexible diaphragm 146 (FIGS. 2 and 3) which has its outerperiphery clamped in fluid tight engagement between a flange 148surrounding an opening 150 in the liquid measuring housing 80 and aflanged collar 152 by means of a quick release split ring clamp 154. Theshank 156 of a generally Z-shaped valve actuatin lever 158 projectsthrough the aperture in the diaphragm 146 and through a collar 162 thatabuts on the face of the inner periphery of diaphragm 146. A flange 160formed on the lever 158 abuts the other face of the diaphragm, and a hubof a control lever 164 engages the collar 162. The flange 160, thediaphragm, the collar 162 and the hub of lever 164 are clamped togetherby a nut 166 that is screwed onto a reduced diameter portion of theshank 156 to provide a fluid tight seal between the diaphragm 146 andthe flange 160. The upper end of the pivot control lever 164 ispivotally mounted on a pin 168 which projects outwardly from a bracket170 that is secured, as by welding, to the flanged collar 152 asillustrated in FIGURE 1.

It will be noted that the actuating device 78 for the inlet valve 76 issubstantially the same as the device 90 and, therefore, the device willnot be described in detail. It will be noted, however, that the device78 is urged to the closed position by a spring 172 which is connectedbetween a pivot control lever 174 and a lug 176 secured to the inletvalve housing 70. The pivot control lever 174 is pivoted about a pin 178secured to the lug 176 and has the cam follower 92 journalled on one endthereof as clearly illustrated in FIGURE 1.

In order to fill an equal quantity of liquid into each carton of acommon size during each cycle of operation of the liquid dispensingapparatus 18, it is essential that the size of the measuring chamber 88be exactly the same for all of the cycles of operation and for each ofthe several dispensing apparatus 18 carried by the turret 15. It is,therefore, an important feature of the invention to assure that theflexible sleeve 82 will be held firmly against the inner walls of thechamber 88 when the chamber is in its expanded position illustrated inFIGURE 2. It is also essential that any air bubbles which enter thefilling tube 84 with the milk or due to the rapid opening of the footvalve 86 will be permitted to flow upwardly out of the measuring chamber88 prior to the entrapment of the next measured quantity of liquid inthe chamber 88.

If air bubbles were permitted to accumulate within the measuring chamberof each of the several dispensing apparatuses 10 mounted on the turret15, it will be appreciated that the size of the air bubbles would not bethe same in each measuring chamber and, accordingly a mechanism, such asthe in-motion adjustment mechanism disclosed in the Vedas et al.application, could not be used to accurately compensate for errors inthe quantity of liquid filled into the cartons due to the presence ofair bubbles of different sizes in the measuring chambers. Furthermore,if air bubbles were permitted to remain in the measuring chambers 88,the inaccuracies would be quite large when filling small cartons sincethe liquid flow rates through the measuring chambers is relatively slowfor small cartons and the pressure within the measuring chambers iscorrespondingly low. Thus, a trapped bubble of air, whichis acompressible fluid, will be much larger when filling small cartons thanit would be when the pressure in the chamber is higher as when fillinglarger cartons.

Accordingly, the upper end of the liquid measuring housing 80 has alower flanged edge 182 (FIG. 4) clamped to a flanged edge 184 of thehousing 88 by a quick release split clamp ring 186. As illustrated inFIGURE 4, the lower end of the sleeve 82 has an enlarged ring 1% formedthereon that is clamped in fluid tight engagement in recesses in theflanges 182 and 184. The upper end (FIG. 4) of the sleeve 82 is providedwith an annular flange 192 which is received in an annular slot 184formed in the lower tubular member 701) of the inlet valve housing 70,and is slightly compressed and held in fluid tight engagement therewithby an outer tubular member 198. The members are connected together neartheir upper ends by a pin 2% and a cooperating ring 202. The pin 2% issecured to the inner tubular member 7% and is received in a bayonet slot201 formed in the cooperating retainer ring 2192. The slot 201 includesan inclined portion 283 (FIG. 1) which, during assembly, engages the pinand firmly forces the outer tubular member downwardly into clampingengagement with the upper end of the sleeve 82 upon rotation of theretaining ring 282.

The upper end 88a of the liquid measuring housing 80 is provided with aninwardly directed flange 204 at its upper end. An O-ring 206 is fittedin an annular groove 288 in the flange 284 and is slidably received onthe outside surface of the member 198 to provide a fluid tight seal. Asbest shown in FIGURE 5, the flexible sleeve 82, the O-ring 206, theinside surface of the wall 801; and the adjacent outside surface of themember 198 cooperate to define a variable capacity vacuum chamber 216, Acheck valve 212 communicates with the vacuum chamber 210 and has aspring loaded ball 214 therein which permits air to be forced out of thevacuum chamber 21% through the check valve 212 but prevents air fromentering the chamber 210 through the check valve. Thus, when themeasuring housing 80 is moved downwardly to the extended positionillustrated in FIGURE 4, substantially all of the air in the vacuumchamber 21% is forced out of the chamber 210 through the check valve212. During the initial downward preliminary filling stroke of the inletvalve housing 79 relative to the liquid measuring housing 80 and thefinal upward filling stroke of the measuring housing 8% relative to theinlet housing 70, the check valve 212 prevents air from entering thevacuum chamber 214) thus creating a vacuum therein as the vacuum chamberenlarges. The vacuum causes the flexible sleeve 82 to fold and cling tothe outer wall of the outer tubular member 198 and form a loop 82a, asindicated in FIGURE 5, during the carton filling stroke, therebypreventing any volume disturbing accordion folds from occurring in theflexible sleeve 82 which would vary the quantity of liquid dischargedfrom the apparatus 10 during each filling stroke of the liquiddispensing apparatus.

Because the foot valve 86 (FIG. 3) must be opened very rapidly whenfilling cartons at the rate of between 150 and 200 cartons per minute, asmall quantity of air may enter the filling tube 84 and flow upwardlytherein during this initial opening of the foot valve 86. This air,which is a compressible fluid, will flow upwardly in the measuringchamber 88, and must be released therefrom in order to prevent theaccumulation of air in the chamber 88, which accumulated air would alterthe volumetric capacity of the chamber 88. It will be particularly notedthat this air will become trapped in the loop-82a (FIG. 5) during thefilling operation. In order to assure that all of this trapped air isreleased from the loop 32a and from the measuring chamber 38 during eachcycle of the operation of the liquid dispensing apparatus 10, the loop82a is completely unfolded when the liquid measuring housing is in itslowermost position, allowing the previously trapped air to flow upwardlypast the open inlet valve 7 6 and be discharged to the atmospherethrough the liquid supply tank 14 (FIG. 1).

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that the liquiddispensing apparatus of the present invention is adapted to operate at avery high rate of speed while accurately discharging a predeterminedquantity of liquid during each cycle of operation thereof. Thedispensing apparatus features a variable orifice valve which cooperateswith a downwardly opening foot valve to eliminate chattering of the footvalve during the filling operation by assuring that the foot valveopening pressure will be sufiicient to maintain the foot valve openduring both the preliminary and final filling steps. The liquiddispensing apparatus also features a check valve vacuumizing systemwhich assures that the flexible sleeve will be folded in the same mannerduring each filling stroke and will be unfolded to release entrapped airtherefrom when the measuring chamber is in its fully expanded position.

While one embodiment of the present invention has been shown anddescribed, it will be understood that various changes and modificationswill be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the appended claims.

The invention having thus been described, what is believed to be new anddesired to be protected by Letters Patent is:

1. A liquid dispensing apparatus comprising means defining a variablecapacity liquid measuring chamber which includes a filling tube havingan inlet and an outlet end, means for filling said chamber with aquantity of liquid, means defining an orifice at the inlet end of saidfilling tube, an orifice valve associated with said orifice and movablebetween open and closed positions to vary the size of said orificeprogressively from a substantially closed condition to a substantiallyunrestricted open condition, a foot valve movable between an openposition permitting fluid to flow through the outlet end of said fillingtube to a closed position, means for decreasing the size of said liquidmeasuring chamber thereby increasing the pressure within said chamber,and pressure responsive means disposed partially within said measuringchamber for opening said orifice valve and said foot valve in responseto the pressure increase in said measuring chamber.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said means for decreasingthe size of said liquid measuring chamber decreases said chamber size atvariable rates thereby increasing the pressure within said chamber, andwherein said means for opening said orifice valve and said foot valvecontrols the amount of opening of said orifice valve and said foot valvein direct proportion to the pressure increase in said measuring chamber.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said foot valve opensoutwardly, said actuating means alternately increasing and decreasingthe size of said liquid measuring chamber, said chamber filling meansbeing operative to fill the chamber when said chamber is increasing insize, and the outward opening of said foot valve being effective tominimize the amount of air brought into the filling tube during rapidopening of said foot valve.

4. A liquid dispensing apparatus comprising means defining an inlethousing having an outlet end, means for maintaining a supply of liquidin said inlet housing, a liquid measuring housing communicating withsaid outlet end of said inlet housing and including a filling tubehaving an inlet end and a discharge end, sealing means connecting saidoutlet end to said liquid measuring housing for allowing relativemovement between said inlet housing and said measuring housing whilemaintaining a fluid tight connection therebetween, an inlet valvemovable between a position closing said outlet end and a positionopening said outlet end, means for alternately opening and closing saidinlet valve, means defining an orifice at said inlet end of said fillingtube, an orifice valve movable between positions wherein the size of theflow passage defined by said orifice and said orifice valveprogressively varies from a substantially closed position to asubstantially unrestricted open position, a foot valve movable betweenan open position permitting fluid to flow through the discharge end ofsaid filling tube and a closed position, pressure responsive meansdisposed partially within said measuring housing "for opening saidorifice valve and said foot valve when said inlet valve is closed inresponse to a pressure increase in said measuring housing, the amount ofopening of said orifice valve and of said foot valve varying in directproportion to the increase of pressure in said measuring housing, andmeans for moving said inlet housing and measuring housing relative toeach other when said inlet valve is closed for diminishing the size ofsaid measuring housing thereby increasing the pressure within saidmeasuring housing.

5. A liquid dispensing apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said footvalve opens outwardly away from the discharge end of said filling tubefor minimizing the amount of air drawn into said tube during the rapidopening of said valve.

6. An apparatus according to claim 4 including means connecting saidorifice valve to said foot valve wherein both valves are simultaneouslymoved to open positions in response to an increase of pressure withinsaid measuring housing to a pressure substantially greater thanatmospheric pressure, said means for moving said measuring housingrelative to said inlet housing being arranged to first move said inlethousing in a direction for first increasing the volume of said housingwhen said inlet valve is open for filling said chamber with a liquid,and to thereafter decrease the volume of said measuring chamber whensaid inlet valve is closed thereby increasing the pressure within saidmeasuring housing and causing said orifice valve and said foot valve toopen and to discharge a measured quantity of liquid from said fillingtube.

7. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said inlet housing has atubular outlet end; said liquid measuring housing has a tubular inletend disposed in telescoping relation with said tubular outlet end; saidsealing means includes a flexible impervious sealing sleeve having oneend sealed to said tubular outlet end and the other end sealed to saidtubular inlet end, and a sealing element spaced from said sealing sleeveand providing a fluid tight seal between said tubular outlet end andsaid tubular inlet end; said sealing sleeve and said sealing elementcooperating with the adjacent walls of said tubular outlet end and saidtubular inlet end to define a variable capacity vacuum chamber; saidapparatus additionally comprising a check valve communicating with saidvacuum chamber and arranged to permit air to flow out of said vacuumchamber and prevent air from entering said vacuum chamber; said means.for moving said inlet housing and said measuring housing relative toeach other being effective to alternately enlarge and diminish the sizeof said chambers, enlargement of said vacuum chamber being efiective tocreate a vacuum in said vacuum chamber which controls the opening ofsaid sealing sleeve by inswing proper folding of said sleeve duringtelescoping movement of said tubular ends.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said sealing element is anO-ring fitted in said tubular inlet end of said measuring housing andoperatively connected in fluid tight sealing engagement with saidtubular outlet end of said inlet housing. 3

9. An apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said flexible sleeve iscompletely unfolded when said measuring chamber is in its fully enlargedposition thereby preventing entrapment of air in said measuring chamberby said flexible sleeve.

10. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said foot valve opensoutwardly, said actuating means alternately increasing and decreasingthe size of said liquid measuring chamber, said chamber filling meansbeing operative to fill the chamber when said chamber is increasing insize, and the outwardly opening of said foot valve being efiective tominimize the amount of air brought into the filling tube during rapidopening of said foot valve.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,474,986 11/1923 Watrous 251144X 2,692,717 10/1954 Spurr 141-147 X 3,073,359 l/l963 Albrecht et al.141-147 X 3,168,225 2/1965 Miller et al. 141147 X 3,204,631 9/1965Fields 103-150 X 3,227,093 1/1966 Taplin l03l50 ROBERT B. REEVES,Primary Examiner. N. L. STACK, Assistant Examiner.

1. A LIQUID DISPENSING APPARATUS COMPRISING MEANS DEFINING A VARIABLECAPACITY LIQUID MEASURING CHAMBER WHICH INCLUDES A FILLING TUBE HAVINGAN INLET ANDF AN OUTLET END, MEANS FOR FILLING SAID CHAMBER WITH AQUANTITY OF LIQUID, MEANS DEFINING AN ORIFICE AT THE INLET END OF SAIDFILLING TUBE, AN ORIFICE VALVE ASSOCIATED WITH SAID ORIFICE AND MOVABLEBETWEEN OPEN AND CLOSED POSITIONS TO VARY THE SIZE OF SAID ORIFICEPROGRESSIVELY FROM A SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSED CONDITION TO A SUBSTANTIALLYUNRESTRICTED OPEN CONDITION, A FOOT VALVE MOVABLE BETWEEN AN OPENPOSITION PERMITTING FLUID TO FLOW THROUGH THE OUTLET END OF SAID FILLINGTUBE TO A CLOSED POSITION, MEANS FOR DECREASING THE SIZE OF SAID LIQUIDMEASURING CHAMBER THEREBY INCREASING THE PRESSURE WITHIN SAID CHAMBER,AND PRESSURE RESPONSIVE MEANS DISPOSED PARTIALLY WITHIN SAID MESURINGCHAMBER FOR OPENING SAID ORIFICE VALVE AND SAID FOOT VALVE IN RESPONSETO THE PRESSURE INCREASES IN SAID MEASURING CHAMBER.